Hong Kong will require government construction projects to equip tower cranes with ground-based remote-control and monitoring systems starting April 1, Skyline Cockpit said in a statement, calling the move a regulatory shift aimed at improving safety and productivity.
The Israeli company said the decision followed a demonstration for local officials in which a tower crane in Israel was operated from a control center in Hong Kong, roughly 9,000 kilometers away.
The company said Phase A of its first system installation in Hong Kong has been completed, ahead of broader rollout on local sites. “This is a significant milestone for the global construction industry,” Skyline Cockpit CEO Tzachi Plato said, adding that Hong Kong’s adoption reflects a shift from technology as an option to technology as a standard.
While Skyline framed the change as a new mandate taking effect in April 2026, Hong Kong’s Development Bureau has also been publishing technical requirements for “remote control tower crane systems” in capital works contracts, including camera coverage, latency limits, fail-safe behavior, and operator training.
One Development Bureau inventory document states that for contracts requiring tower cranes, at least one crane per contract must be remotely controlled, in addition to baseline technical requirements.
Hong Kong’s Labour Department has separately issued safety requirements for remote-control tower crane systems, including the ability to switch back to conventional cabin operation and automatic stopping if latency exceeds design limits or power is interrupted.
Skyline Cockpit’s wider expansion
The company said the demonstration drew strong interest from the local regulator and the Construction Industry Council, who highlighted the system’s safety and scalability for future projects.
Skyline described Hong Kong’s approach as part of a broader effort to embed innovation into regulation, treating technology as a lever to improve site safety, reduce risk exposure for operators, and increase efficiency on dense urban builds.
Skyline said the Hong Kong progress builds on deployments in other markets, including Britain and Scandinavia, and is intended to position the firm as a leading player in remote crane operation and construction safety technology. Plato said the cross-border demonstration showed the system is “mature, safe and ready” for wider implementation.